Why isnt michigan two states?

Question

we have north and south carolina, north and south dakota, west and not west virginia, but the only state (besides hawaii, but that doesnt count) that is split in two is still one state.

it annoys me. we should have a north and south michegan, then the dakotas or carolinas can merge. it makes more sense.

Answer 1

ATLAS ! PLEASE KEEP A LATEST ATLAS OR A DISC.

Answer 2

because the govt likes to just have 50 states.....and no more....it's a nice well rounded number, 51 would suck.

Answer 3

There was a big dispute with the state of Ohio over a little piece of land called the "Toledo Strip" Ohio wanted it to be part of Ohio, Michigan wanted it to be part of Michigan.

"The dispute originated from varying interpretations of conflicting state and federal legislation, passed between 1787 and 1805, which in turn resulted largely from a poor understanding of the location of certain features of the Great Lakes. This caused the governments of Ohio and Michigan to both claim sovereignty over a 468 square mile (1,210 km²) region along the border, now known as the Toledo Strip. When Michigan pressed for statehood in the early 1830s it sought to include the disputed territory within its boundaries but Ohio's Congressional delegation was able to halt Michigan's admission to the Union.

Beginning in 1835 both sides passed legislation meant to force the other side's capitulation. Ohio's governor Robert Lucas and Michigan's then 24-year-old "boy governor" Stevens T. Mason were both unwilling to cede jurisdiction of the Strip, so they raised militias and helped institute criminal penalties for citizens submitting to the other state's authority. Both militias were mobilized and sent to positions on opposite sides of the Maumee River near Toledo, but there was little interaction between the two sides besides mutual taunting. The single military confrontation of the "war" ended with a report of shots being fired into the air, incurring no casualties.

In December 1836 the Michigan territorial government, facing a dire financial crisis, surrendered the land under pressure from Congress and President Andrew Jackson and accepted a proposed resolution adopted in the U.S. Congress. Under the compromise Michigan gave up its claim to the strip in exchange for its statehood and approximately three-quarters of the Upper Peninsula. Although the compromise was considered a poor outcome for Michigan at the time, the later discovery of copper and iron deposits and the plentiful timber in the Upper Peninsula more than compensated for the loss of the strip."

By itself the Upper Peninsula of Michigan has never had enough population or a varied enough economy to be a viable state.

Answer 4

I like the way 'mrw0113' marshalled facts and some of his suggestions should be implemented in 21st century.

Let Michigan be that 'one' peculiar state with a sea-like body between the parts.

Answer 5

Why aren't Alaska, Texas, California, and Montana split into smaller states?  They're so large as it is.  Why don't we get rid of all the panhandles of states, like Oklahoma, Texas, and Florida, and make those into new states or merge them into others?  Why don't we just merge all those micro states in the northeast into one big state called New England?  Why do we have states at all?  Why don't we ask all kinds of silly questions without doing research on them?

Michigan is one state because only one state is needed for that geographic area.  It's that simple.  Besides, what would you do if the Great Lakes dried up?  Then you'd have to worry about all that new land in between!

FYI:

* Carolina colony was split into two colonies by 1712 by the aristocrats in England who couldn't agree on how to govern it ("my side, your side" kind of thing).

* Dakota Territory was meant to be turned into one state in 1889, but this was changed at the last minute.  One state was thought to be too large, there were two population centers distant from each other, and Republicans wanted more power in the Senate (4 new senators instead of 2).

* West Virginia was formed by counties that did not want to secede from the Union at the beginning of the Civil War.  The Union saw an opportunity to weaken Virginia in this way, and it also didn't want to lose any more land to the Confederacy.

Answer 6

For one thing, Michigan ISN'T split into two. Its borders extend well out into the Great Lakes, as you can see on the following map:

http://img379.imageshack.us/img379/8279/...

Clearly, it is one, large state, not two.

Because its borders extend out into the Great Lakes, it is the largest state east of the Mississippi River:

Michigan 96,810

Florida 65,758

Wisconsin 65,503

Georgia 59,441

Illinois 57,918

New York 54,475

North Carolina 53,821

Arkansas 53,182

Alabama 52,423

Mississippi 48,434

Pennsylvania 46,058

Ohio 44,828

But yet, it is only the 11th biggest state overall:

Alaska 656,424

Texas 268,601

California 163,707

Montana 147,046

New Mexico 121,598

Arizona 114,006

Nevada 110,567

Colorado 104,100

Oregon 98,386

Wyoming 97,818

Michigan 96,810

Minnesota 86,943

So, splitting Michigan in two makes as much sense as splitting Wyoming and Colorado in two, or Alaska into seven pieces.